Tokyo Yasukuni shrine blast video: Man suspected to be South Korean entered with bag, left without

A suspicious man caught on surveillance cameras after an explosion was heard outside a public restroom at the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on the morning of November 23 is South Korean and has returned to South Korea, investigative sources said on Wednesday.

Security cameras around the restroom captured a man in dark clothes wearing eyeglasses and carrying a backpack and a bag approximately 30 minutes before the sound of the blast at the shrine that is seen as a symbol of Japan's militarist past in China and South Korea.

The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) has been studying the possible trail of the man by analysing video footage and examining whether the man is linked with the possible explosion incident, which caused no injuries.

The sources said some items left behind at one of the stalls of the restroom had Korean Hangul writing on them.

According to the sources, the man headed for the restroom where the blast was heard. Subsequent footage from the shrine showed him without a bag, exiting the compound by the nearby South Gate and walking toward the Kudanshita subway station.

The MPD also checked videos from security cameras in the neighbourhood of the shrine in Tokyo’s Chiyoda Ward and found that the man did not use the station but walked to a hotel in the same ward, the sources said, adding that the police found out that the man then left for South Korea.